


Along with the Stars

by inwhatfurnace



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Anxiety, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Gratuitous Pair Skating, M/M, Sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 04:43:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9162529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inwhatfurnace/pseuds/inwhatfurnace
Summary: “You picked the duet,” there’s a reassuring squeeze of his hand. “Why?”“I want --” he stops, voice shaking, and tries again. “I want you to skate it with me?”





	

**Author's Note:**

> I would like Yuuri and Victor to pair skate forever so here is an incredibly sappy fic where they do that. I tried to figure everything out so that this could feasibly take place during the series but I probably messed up somewhere...
    
    
    MAY: HASETSU, KYUSHU, JAPAN

“Yuuri, have you thought about what you want to skate at the exhibition?” 

Victor springs the question on him at the end of a practice session, and Yuuri almost trips over his own skates as he gets off the ice.

“N-no? Not yet,” he lies, unconvincingly, and Victor hums thoughtfully.  
“You’ll be medaling, won’t you?” Victor’s expectant smile has Yuuri’s stomach plummeting to somewhere around his ankles. “Well, when you find some music you like, let me know.”

It takes him a week to build up enough courage to tell Victor, after nights spent lying awake rehearsing what to say, trying to predict every possible outcome. Will Victor be happy? Impressed? Offended? Disgusted? Days slip by, and no matter how committed he is to the music, to his skating, every day he frets is a day he could have been practicing. 

_Victor wants you to succeed_ , he tells himself. _He wants you to win. He came here because he saw you skate._

He finally does it one night after dinner. Victor is cooing over how delicious everything was, how he could eat twenty bowls of _katsudon_ a day and never tire of it. He scrambles to help his parents do the dishes, then races to his bedroom for his phone and headphones. When he returns to the dining room, Victor is still gushing to Makkachin about the food, holding the poodle’s face in his hands as he rubs their noses together. Yuuri does a quick once-over of the room: they’re alone.

Yuuri can’t help but smile at the _thump thump_ of Makkachin’s tail against the floor as he kneels next to Victor. He takes a breath and tries to steel himself. 

“I lied,” he says, and Victor turns to him, curious. “I know what I want to skate at the exhibition. I knew it when you asked me.”  
“Yuuri?”

All those late-night anxiety sessions and he still doesn’t know what else to say, so he gently tucks one earbud into Victor’s ear, keeping the other for himself. He takes one quick look at Victor’s face before he presses play and screws his eyes shut.

“Oh,” Victor murmurs, and Yuuri can feel himself flushing from the tips of his ears down his neck. He can hear Victor start to hum along, but he falls quiet when the soprano joins in, and suddenly, his hand is in Yuuri’s. 

As the piano and strings fade away, Yuuri finally opens his eyes and it doesn’t matter what Victor says next, he’s going to cry.  
“You picked the duet,” there’s a reassuring squeeze of his hand. “Why?”  
“I want --” he stops, voice shaking, and tries again. “I want you to skate it with me?”

Victor slowly reaches up to take the earbud out of his ear, and does the same for Yuuri. He takes Yuuri’s phone out of his hands, wraps the headphones around it, places them gently on the table, and scoots Makkachin out of the way.

“Yuuri Katsuki,” he says, taking Yuuri’s face into his hands. “I can’t think of anything I’d like more.”

That’s it, Yuuri’s vision goes completely watery, and he takes off his glasses to try and rub the tears out of his eyes.  
“M’sorry,” he mumbles, but Victor just wraps him up in a hug, one hand rubbing comforting circles around and around on his back. “I was so nervous.”  
“I am really that scary?” Victor laughs as Yuuri buries his face in his shoulder. “At least we’ve already got some of the choreography figured out.”

* * *

“Do either of you have any pair skating experience?” Minako asks with a worried frown.  
“Yuuko and I tried to skate together when we were younger, but it never went anywhere,” Yuuri replies, and Victor nods in agreement next to him.  
“Yakov had me pair up a few times as well.”

Minako has them practicing in her studio for two weeks before letting them anywhere near the ice. She helps with the choreography, suggesting what lifts and combinations will be relatively easy to learn but still look impressive. 

“It sounds cheesy, but the most important thing is trust, honestly,” she tells them. “You have to be confident that the other will be where they’re supposed to be.”

Yuuri remembers the thrill of Yuuko’s hand in his, her delighted laughter whenever he had lifted her off the ice, arms spread like she was flying.

The first time Victor lifts him, Yuuri lets out a terrified yelp, eyes closed, hands clutching at Victor’s pressed firmly around his waist.

“I’ve got you, Yuuri,” He can hear the smile in Victor’s voice as he sets Yuuri back down and begins to lift him again. Yuuri forces himself to open his eyes and hold his arms out as gracefully as he can manage, trying to forget the feeling of his feet off the ground. “There you go.”

As he returns to the studio floor, Yuuri tries to imagine doing all this in skates and blanches, wondering just how overambitious this whole thing really is. Maybe it would be better to do something else --

“You’re lucky we’re not doing any throws,” Victor winks at him, hands still on Yuuri’s hips, and Yuuri’s pretty sure he can feel his face turning grey.

* * *
    
    
    JUNE

Victor demands perfection, and Yuuri knows he shouldn’t be surprised – this is the free skate that won Victor the Grand Prix Final, the one that convinced him to be Yuuri’s coach, that helped Yuuri convince himself to skate for another season.

“Not clean enough!” Victor tells him for the fifth time this practice, hitting the pause button on the CD player remote. “Again, from the top. Watch your hips.”

Yuuri is desperate to get the feeling he felt when he skated for Yuuko back, chasing an echo of Victor even when he has the man right in front of him. 

“You’re getting close, Yuuri, but not quite,” Victor tells him as they walk home from the Ice Castle. “Soon, though, I think.”

* * *
    
    
    AUGUST

Skating with Victor is even more nerve-wracking than he’d imagined. Knowing that Victor will be joining him on the ice is more than enough to make the jumps in his solo part a complete mess. He’s stopped in the middle of his routine at least three times today, the choreography simply gone from both his mind and muscle memory.

“You’re thinking too much,” Victor says. “Your exhibition skate is supposed to be an opportunity for you to relax.”  
“I know,” Yuuri huffs, frustrated. He shakes out his arms and legs, skating in slow circles around the rink. “Let me try one more time.”  
“Then we’re done for the day,” Victor replies, a warning in his voice. “Don’t overdo it, Yuuri.”

He’s at Minako’s studio almost every night after dinner, letting her adjust his arms and legs for each and every step of the choreography. Victor joins him a couple times of week, on days when he can resist the call of the hot springs. The floor-to-wall mirror in Minako’s studio is great for keeping his body position in check, but it also lets him sneak glances at Victor when they practice together. 

“Don’t forget about your short program and free skate,” Minako tells him as they finish going through the step sequence. Victor had decided to stay at Yu-topia tonight, and she’s filling in for him, helping Yuuri visualize how much space they’ll both need on the ice.  
“I won’t. But this has to be just as good. Maybe better.” 

* * *
    
    
    OCTOBER

It’s 3 a.m. and he’s been watching as many YouTube videos of Victor’s old performances as he can find. The glow of his laptop is the only light in the dining room, the bright glare keeping him awake. He’s going to be useless tomorrow at practice, but he can’t help himself.

Makkachin is next to him, head in his lap, and Yuuri reaches down to scratch behind his ear before he freezes – when did he get here? Shouldn’t he be upstairs?

“Yuuri, what are you doing?” He turns to find Victor in the doorway, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. “What time is it?”  
“I was, uh, well, you see,” Yuuri has no idea what to say, and his stammering just gets worse as Victor takes a seat next to him at the table. Victor squints at the screen, and if he’s surprised to see himself there, he doesn’t show it. “I was… watching you?”

Victor runs a hand through his hair and sighs.  
“I don’t want you to copy me, Yuuri,” he says quietly. “I want your exhibition skate to be entirely yours.”  
“It’s not that! Really!” Yuuri insists, as a younger Victor effortlessly pulls of a quadruple toe loop on the screen. He might be hyperventilating a little. “I wanted… I wanted…”  
“It’s ok,” Victor says, scooting closer. “Tell me?”  
“I wanted it to be like… that even when it’s just me skating in the beginning, that you’re there with me.” He wrings his hands together; he’s sure his face is bright red. He tenses when he feels Victor shift next to him, reaching out pause the video, an unreadable expression on his face. 

“Yuuri,” Victor says, finally, dropping his head to Yuuri’s shoulder, the tips of his ears pink. “Thank you.”  
“Th-thank you?” Yuuri repeats, baffled. He has no idea what’s going on as Victor closes his laptop, pulls him to his feet, leads him upstairs, and tucks him into bed before heading back to his own room.

“What just happened?” He asks Makkachin, who hops up onto his bed and licks his face in reply.

* * *

“Wonderful,” Victor breathes, face flushed, shoulders heaving, as the song ends. “Really wonderful!”

Yuuri squawks as Victor lifts him up, digging his hands into the material of Victor’s shirt to balance himself.  
“It was ok?” He asks as Victor sets him back down on the ice.  
“I said wonderful, and I mean it.”

“Oh, my,” he hears Yuuko say, and looks over to see her, Minako, and the triplets at the wall, all of them clapping. “If I knew you could pair skate like that, Yuuri, I would have snatched you up when I had the chance!”  
“I can’t believe Mom took away our phones,” Lutz whines, as Axel and Loop quickly join in. “The world needs to know!”  
“You both look great,” Minako agrees. “You just need to relax a little more, Yuuri.”

“See? Definitely more than ok,” Victor winks, and then takes Yuuri by the hand and skates him back to his starting position. “One more time, from the top, if you don’t mind.”

* * *
    
    
    NOVEMBER: BEIJING, CHINA

“Wow,” Phichit sighs. His practice time is right after Yuuri’s, and he had a first-row seat to his exhibition skate. “That was so romantic!”  
“I’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Yuuri replies, taking a seat next to Phichit and slipping the guards onto his skates. Victor is chatting with Celestino back near the rink. “Did you take any pictures?” Yuuri asks, and Phichit shows him his camera roll. Yuuri scrolls through, feeling his face heat up. Does he really look like that when he skates? “Would you mind not posting them until after the Final? I – I want it to be as much of a surprise as it can be.”  
“Of course!” Phichit takes his phone back, taps the screen a few times, and then holds it out in front of them. “But to make up for that, you’ve gotta take one with me right now.”

Yuuri laughs as Phichit crowds in close, pressing their faces together.

 _With the bff before practice! #yuurikatsuki #cupofchina #beijing_ , the caption on Instagram reads.

* * *
    
    
    NOVEMBER: MOSCOW, RUSSIA

Yakov and Lilia Baranovskaya watch him practice with matching blank expressions, occasionally muttering to each other in voices too low for Yuuri to hear. Neither of them interrupts him as he runs through his short program and his free skate, or when he practices his jumps. Sharing the ice with all of the Russian skaters is somehow both nerve-wracking and comforting – he hates messing up in front of them, but Mila and Georgi are both happy to help when they can, and Yuri manages to both insult him and give him advice at the same time.

“Yuri helped you with your quad Salchow, didn’t he?” Yakov asks at the end of practice, earning an outraged screech from Yuri from the other side of the rink.  
“How the hell could you know that, old man?”  
“Your entries into the jump are exactly the same,” Lilia says.  
“When we both were in Hasetsu, he gave me some pointers,” Yuuri explains, and Yakov nods.  
“That’s pretty cute,” Mila says, as Yuri starts to fume. “Are you all done with practice for today, Yuuri?”  
“I think so.”  
“What about your exhibition skate?” She asks with a grin that makes Yuuri think he might have a few questions for Phichit the next time he sees him.  
“Uh, well, I’ve been practicing that just with Victor, so, um,” he stammers, too caught off guard to make up an excuse.  
“Gross,” Yuri grumbles as he skates up to them. “If you guys are done, get off the ice.”  
“Before that,” Mila replies, waving Georgi over, “we’re gonna make Victor jealous. Let me grab my phone.”

The picture she sends Victor is a selfie of the four of them huddled together: Mila’s arm around Yuuri’s shoulders, Georgi winking at the camera, and Yuri glowering from the edge of the frame.

"Victor says _take care of my Yuuri_ , with like twenty exclamation marks," Mila announces, and Yuuri rushes off the ice before Yuri can kick him.

* * *
    
    
    DECEMBER: BARCELONA, SPAIN

“I have a surprise for you!” Victor says, handing Yuuri a wrapped box just as he’s about to head to the locker room.

Yuuri pulls away the snowflake wrapping paper and opens the cardboard shipping box to find a blue and black costume, and underneath, one he immediately recognizes as the outfit Victor wore for his free skate in Sochi last year.

“I knew your measurements, so I asked the designer to make a matching costume,” Victor says, and Yuuri wonders if all of Barcelona can hear his heart hammering in his chest. “Then I had your parents send my old one over. We can finally have a dress rehearsal!” Victor explains, delighted. “If mine still fits, that is.”

Yuuri knows it’s just a joke, Victor’s light tone and laugh tell him so, but all his doubts bubble back up to the surface. _Victor shouldn’t be wasting what time he has left coaching you --_

“Hey, Yuuri,” Victor says quietly, but it’s enough to stop Yuuri from spiraling out of control. “Why did I decide become your coach?”

Yuuri just stares back, before realizing Victor’s question isn’t rhetorical, and starts to scramble for an answer.  
“Uh, well, you saw me skating your old short program and…” he gulps, unable to meet Victor’s eyes. “You were inspired?”  
“That’s true,” Victor agrees, and reaches out to put a hand on Yuuri’s shoulder, leading the both of them to sit on the nearest bench. “There’s a little more to it, now.”  
“O-oh?”

Victor sighs, and turns to stare out at the skaters that are practicing. Yuuri follows his gaze, watching as a young woman flubs a triple toe loop and immediately turns to her coach for advice.

“It doesn’t matter how young you start skating, or how successful your debut is, in a few years there’s someone who can jump higher, or rotate faster, or land cleaner than you ever could,” Victor turns back to Yuuri. “That’s happened to the both of us, hasn’t it?”

Yuuri nods, unsure of what else to do, and Victor smiles. “Being a coach – being your coach, it lets me… live a little longer? You bring me out onto the ice with you when you skate, Yuuri.”

Yuuri bites the inside of his cheek as he feels the hot pinprick of tears in the corners of his eyes.  
“Whether or not I go back to skating next season doesn’t matter. I want to be here with you right now.”  
“Ok,” Yuuri can barely raise his voice above a whisper. “I want to be here with you, too.”  
“Good.” 

Compelled to do something, Yuuri takes Victor’s hand in his and hooks their fingers together.  
“Thank you,” Yuuri mumbles, and turns red when Victor brings Yuuri’s hand up to kiss the back of it.  
“I should be thanking you,” Victor replies. Not wanting to be outdone, Yuuri copies the motion, leading Victor’s hand to his lips, happy to see the quick flash of pleased surprise in his expression.  
“Come on,” Yuuri says, clutching the box tight and tugging Victor up with him. “Let’s go get changed. We don’t have the ice for that long.”

It takes a while for Yuuri to get used to his costume – the extra weight on his shoulders, the cinch around his waist, the feeling of gloves between his fingers. When they finally manage one clean skate of the entire routine, Yuuri restrains himself from throwing himself into Victor’s arms until the music ends. Victor catches him easily, and starts to skate them back off the ice.

“What do you think?” Victor calls, eyes never leaving Yuuri’s. Yuuri jolts – he’d been completely unaware they had an audience.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Yuri announces. 

Victor takes Yuuri’s hand and squeezes.  
“That means it was really good, I think,” he says in a low voice, and Yuuri laughs.

“Hey, _katsudon_ ,” Yuri calls out as Yuuri makes his way to the locker room. He’s still slumped in a seat, feet propped up on the row in front of him. “Make sure your arms follow through every movement.”  
Yuuri gives him a hesitant smile. ““Y-yeah? Thanks, Yurio.” Yuri rolls his eyes and waves him away, dismissing him.

* * *

Blind in the spotlight, Yuuri hears Victor before he sees him: the telltale sound of blades on fresh ice, the incredulous roar of the crowd, the _clickclickclick_ of the photographers’ cameras taking as many pictures a second as they can.

Skating with Victor is still so surreal, even now, as he holds out his arm and begins to move, Victor’s hand at his waist guiding him forward. 

_You’re skating with Victor Nikiforov after winning silver at the Grand Prix Final. He cried when you said you wanted to break up. He’s wearing the ring you bought him. He met you at the airport and said he hoped you never retire. All you had to do was drunkenly beg for him to be your coach._

Maybe it's because they've been practicing for months now, but everything finally seems to come easily to Yuuri.

“Wonderful,” Victor whispers when they’re done, moving in close and pressing their foreheads together. “Wonderful, Yuuri.”

How could he want to be anywhere but here?

**Author's Note:**

> me: idk I think this might be too schmaltzy  
> yuri on ice: victor and yuuri got engaged in front of a cathedral while a choir sang sweetly in the background  
> me: good point
> 
> (Come hang out with me on [tumblr](http://aetheling.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/amyrran)!)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Along With The Stars [PODFIC]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9218579) by [Fandom_Lover_For_Life126](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandom_Lover_For_Life126/pseuds/Fandom_Lover_For_Life126)




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